josserand



May 14, 1946 L. P. JOSSERAND THEATER Original Filed Dec. 14, 1953 2Sheets-Sheet 1 awe/whom LOUIS P JOSS ERAND.

UNITED s'ra'rs box ofllce B is necessary.

Reissues! May 14. 1946 PATENT ornci:

2 Claims.

The invention relates to an improvement in the arrangement andconstruction of drive-in theater wherein the theater is so constructedthat the patrons may drive their automobiles into the theater andobserve the performance while seated in the automobile.

- It is one ofthe objects of the invention to provide an efiicient,economical, and convenient construction so that the greatest number ofvehicles may be parked within a minimum area in order to provide amaximum of attendance. 1

Another object of the invention is to provide entry ways for thevehicles in such a manner that two rows of vehicles may be arrangedadjacent each driveway.

Another object of the invention is to so concave the surface of thetheater that each vehicle will have a clear view of the performancewithout interference by the rows of vehicles in front thereof.

Another object of the invention is to provide a drive-in theater whereinthe entrance and exits are conveniently arranged with respect to theparking areas so that the minimum of disturbance will be created byvehicles entering and leaving the theater.

Other and further objects of the inventionwill be readily apparent whenthe following description is considered in connection with theaccompanying drawings wherein:

Fig.' 1 is a top plan view of the theater showing the arrangement of theentrances and exits as well as the parking areas and driveways.

Fig. 2 is a section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1 looking in thedirection of the arrows and illustrating the general concavedarrangement of the parking areas and driveways.

Fig. 3' is an enlarged vertical sectional view of one of the drivewaysand showing the vehicles parked in position to observe the performance.

In Fig. 1 the location of the theater is illustrated as adjacent twointersecting streets such as 3 and 4, but it may be located otherwise ifdesired. With such a location, however, the entrance to the theater maybe at the corner 5 so that only one The entrances are shown at I and 8,but only one entrance may be desired.

A suitable enclosure, such as a fence or shrubbery 9 may be arranged onall sides of the theater spaced so that only those entering theenclosure may observe the performance. Two exits l0 and l I have beenillustrated, one on each of the intersecting streets. In this manner thevehicles leaving the theater will not interfere with those enterin: thetheater and a minimum of disturbance Q will be created by the movingvehicles.

The theater enclosure will be provided with a suitable stage or screenI: from which the performance will be given. In event it is merely amoving picture theater the picture will be displayed on a screen on thisstage. The projection room has not been illustrated but it is to beuning places such as l2, I, II, and i0.

ber of these parking places will vary with the sizederstood that it canbe either in front or in back of the stage as desired.

Arranged in front of the stage l2 are the park- The numof the theaterdesired. These Darkingspaces are shown as being curvilinear. The parkingareas may be described as double parking areas such as I2 and M. It isintended, however, that the vehicles in the parking area It will moveinto the parking position by passing in front of the park-- ing area asat I1, and backing into the parking area such as best seen in Fig. 3;while the vehicles entering the parking area It will pass into thedriveway II, which is between the parking areas I and 15. passing thebox ofllce will move along the side drive 20 until they arrive at thedesired driveway, such as is or 22. The vehicles which intend to park inthe area I will turn in the driveway II and move into the position shownin Fig. 3 by driving forwardly: whereas the vehicles which are.

to park in the area II will pass into the driveway and back intoposition.

While the entrance or exit of the vehicles through the driveways mayinterfere momentarily with the view of some of the patrons in the parkedcars, such interference will be very slight because the sight lines,such as 25, extending to a position 20, which is slightly below thecenter of the stage i2, will pass above the top of the vehicles movingalong the driveway, such as II.

In arriving at the spacing of the parking areas l2, i4, i5 and I8, andthe driveways therebetween, the height of present day vehicles has beenvery carefully considered and the inclination of the parking areas hasbeen so calculated that the sight line from the center of the windshieldof the vehicle in one row permits a clear line of vision over the top,such as 21, of the vehicles in the preceding parking areas.

As clearly observed in Figs. 2 and 3, the surface 30 of the theater hasbeen inclined and divided into parking areas and driveways and soconcaved that when sight lines from each parking area are drawn toconverge at the point 26 each sight line As will be apparent, thevehicles after;

- Figures 2 and 3 to indicate the concaved arrangement of the surface30. The parking area I3 is shown as tipping quite shaipLv downward fromthe normal horizontal plane so that the sight line 25 from the focuspoint 2 will be parallel to the line of sight of a person seated in thevehicle. This makes a convenient and comfortable parking angle for thevehicle. The area I4 is shown as being inclined upwardly from thedriveway II at such an angle that the sight line from the focus I isalso parallel to the line of sight of persons seated in the vehicle. Inorder to accomplish this, however, the drive ll is shown as being at anelevation somewhat below the ground line 82, because if the driveway IIwere on the level with the ground line, the cars in the rearward parkingareas could not have a clear view of the screen. The parking area II isinclined downwardly in somewhat the same manner as the parking area I!but at a somewhat lesser angle because this parking area is spacedfurther from the screen and the sight line clears the top of thevehicles in the parking area ll.

From Fig. 2 the general contour of the surface 30 will be observed asconcaved and at substantially the point I! the surface rises above theground line 32. The inclination of the parking areas gradually decreasesfrom the front of the theater toward the rear so that in all probabilityno two of the parking areas would be inclined at the same angle withrespect to the horizontal.

In building a theater of this type it would be possible to use the earthremoved in constructin the front part of the theater to be deposited inthe back part of the theater so that the cut and fill would practicallybalance each other and no supply of earth from an outside source wouldbe required. In this manner the theater could be constructed at aminimum cost and it would only be necessary to landscape the surface inaccordance with the showing of these drawings.

While it is possible that the sight lines could be more closely spacedtogether; the arrangement has been such that the sight lines will be twofeet six inches apart when measured at the windshield in any one parkingarea. In other words, there will be a two feet six inch clearancebetween the line of sight in one parking area and the line of sight inthe ext succeeding parking area. It is considered that this issufllcient to clear the top of the average vehicle now in use. With thetrend, however, of lower vehicle bodies it is possible that as thehigher cars gradually disappear a theater could be constructed with thesight line spaced a lesser distance apart and in this manner theinclination of the parking areas could be arranged'at a lesser anglewith respect to the horizontal. Any suitableinclination of the parkingareas with respect to each other or the horizontal or with respect tothe driveways may be arranged so that an unobstructed view of the gagemay be had by the occupants of every ve- The particular advantage of thepresent arrangement is that a maximum number of vehicles can beaccommodated in a minimum of space. each driveway serving two parkingareas and two parking areas being closely adjacent.

It is contemplated, of course, that if desired seats 88 may be placed infront of the parking area for such patrons as desire to leave theirvehicles and observe the performance more closely. The area 40 behindthe last parking area may be used to park vehicles where the patronsdesire to be seated with friends in another vehicle or where the patronsdesire to occupy the space in front of the parking area II. It iscontemplated, of course, that the entrances and exits may be arranged inany manner desired other than here shown, but it is believed that thepresent arrangement is convenient.

What is claimed is:

1. An outdoor theater for vehicles comprising a stage, a generallyconcaved surface located in front of the stage, spaced driveways on saidsurface, a parking area located on each side of each driveway, the areain front of each driveway being inclined upwardly therefrom and the areain the rear of each driveway being inclined downwardly therefrom in sucha manner that the occupants of the vehicle parked on said parking areaswill have an unobstructed view of the stage.

2. A drive-in theater for vehicles comprising a generally concavedsurface, an arrangement of driveways and parking areas thereon, saidareas being arranged in pairs between adjacent driveways and inclinedwith respect to the concavity of the surface to provide a clear view,the inclination of said areas relative to the driveways being such thatthe vehicles may drive on and oil such areas.

LOUIS P. JOSBERAND.

